Mute
by Anti-Blupressants
Summary: Anniversaries are something to take pride in. The empiricism of love from married couples coming together and renewing their vows, everything they said on their marriage is nothing but cold, old news compare to this day. Nothing could go wrong at anytime of this particular day... Unless a accident leaves the husband involuntarily mute, and unable to say his vows.


**(Here's the short introduction of the story; I'm sorry I can't give you a full story chapter until later. As I'm working on another story! :))**

**|Mute|**

**A Rio Short**

* * *

_Children and adults with selective mutism are fully capable of speech and understanding language but fail to speak in certain situations, though speech is expected of them.__[3]__The behaviour may be perceived as shyness or rudeness by others. A child with selective mutism may be completely silent at school for years but speak quite freely or even excessively at home. There is a hierarchical variation among people with this disorder: some people participate fully in activities and appear social but do not speak, others will speak only to peers but not to adults, others will speak to adults when asked questions requiring short answers but never to peers, and still others speak to no one and participate in few, if any, activities presented to them. In a severe form known as "progressive mutism", the disorder progresses until the person with this condition no longer speaks to anyone in any situation, even close family members._

_Selective mutism is by definition characterized by the following:_

_Consistent failure to speak in specific social situations (in which there is an expectation for speaking, e.g., at school) despite speaking in other situations._

_The disturbance interferes with educational or occupational achievement or with social communication._

_The duration of the disturbance is at least 1 month (not limited to the first month of school)._

_The failure to speak is not due to a lack of knowledge of, or comfort with, the spoken language required in the social situation._

_The disturbance is not better accounted for by a __communication disorder__ (e.g., __stuttering__) and does not occur exclusively during the course of a __pervasive developmental disorder__, __schizophrenia__, or other psychotic disorder._

_Selective mutism is strongly associated with anxiety disorders, particularly __social anxiety disorder__. In fact, the majority of children diagnosed with selective mutism also have social anxiety disorder (100% of participants in two studies and 97% in another).__ Some researchers therefore speculate that selective mutism may be an avoidance strategy used by a subgroup of children with social anxiety disorder to reduce their distress in social situations.__[7][8]_

_Particularly in young children, SM can sometimes be confused with an __autism spectrum disorder__, especially if the child acts particularly withdrawn around their diagnostician, which can lead to incorrect treatment. Although autistic people may also be selectively mute, they display other behaviors—hand flapping, repetitive behaviors, social isolation even among family members (not always answering to name, for example)—that set them apart from a child with selective mutism. Some autistic people may be selectively mute due to anxiety in social situations that they do not fully understand. If mutism is entirely due to autism spectrum disorder, it cannot be diagnosed as selective mutism as stated in the last item on the list above.__  
_

_Selective mutism may co-exist with or cause the child to appear to have __attention deficit disorder__. Many people with the inattentive form of ADHD show little or no interest in other people. People with inattentive ADHD may appear to be "space cadets" or "out in their own world", and may be slower to respond to social stimuli. Children with selective mutism, especially when they have severe social anxiety, may also display this behavior. In addition, many children with selective mutism are highly sensitive, and they may be distracted from the task at hand by sensory input or their anxiety.__  
_

_The former name __elective mutism__ indicates a widespread misconception among psychologists that selective mute people choose to be silent in certain situations, while the truth is that they often wish to speak but cannot. To reflect the involuntary nature of this disorder, the name was changed to selective mutism in 1994._

_The __incidence__ of selective mutism is not certain. Due to the poor understanding of this condition by the general public, many cases are likely undiagnosed. Based on the number of reported cases, the figure is commonly estimated to be 1 in 1000, 0.1%.__ However, a 2002 study in The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry estimated the incidence to be 0.71%.__  
_

_Selective mutism is an umbrella term for the condition of otherwise well-developed children who cannot speak or communicate under certain settings. The exact causes that affect each child may be different and yet unknown. There have been attempts to categorize, but there are no definitive answers yet due to the under-diagnosis and small/biased sample sizes. Many people are not diagnosed until late in childhood only because they do not speak at school and therefore fail to accomplish assignments requiring public speaking. Their involuntary silence makes the condition harder to understand or test. Parents often are unaware of the condition since the children may be functioning well at home. Teachers and pediatricians also sometimes mistake it for severe shyness or common stage fright._

_Selective mutism occurs in all racial and ethnic groups. The majority of reported cases are of white and interracial children. However this could be due to under-diagnosis and under-reporting in other ethnic groups._

_Most children with selective mutism are hypothesized to have an inherited predisposition to anxiety. They often have inhibited temperaments, which is hypothesized to be the result of over-excitability of the area of the brain called the amygdala.[13] This area receives indications of possible threats and sets off the fight-or-flight response. Given the very high overlap between social anxiety disorder and selective mutism (as high as 100% in some studies[14][15][16]), it is possible that social anxiety disorder causes selective mutism._

_Some children with selective mutism may have trouble processing sensory information. This would cause anxiety and a sense of being overwhelmed in unfamiliar situations, which may cause the child to "shut down" and not be able to speak (something that some autistic people also experience). Many children with Selective Mutism have some auditory processing difficulties._

_About 20–30% of children with SM have speech or language disorders that add stress to situations in which the child is expected to speak.[17]_

_Despite the change of name from "elective" to "selective", a common misconception remains that a selectively mute child is defiant or stubborn. In fact, children with SM have a lower rate of oppositional behavior than their peers in a school setting.[18] Some previous studies on the subject of selective mutism have been dismissed as containing serious flaws in their design. According to a more recent systematic study it is believed that children who have selective mutism are not more likely than other children to have a history of early trauma or stressful life events.[19] Another recent study by Dummit et al., in 1997 did not find any evidence of trauma in their sample of children. Recent evidence has shown that trauma doesn't explain why most children with selective mutism develop the condition.[20] Many children who have Selective Mutism almost always speak confidently in some situations. Children who have experienced trauma however are known to suddenly stop speaking._

_Does this works with birds, you might ask? Maybe; it's only been investigated once and never again was that book brought up again. It may only be of the same causes listed above._

* * *

_**I can't really give you a full charioteer chapter because I'm fatigued form moving this around; (Moving next week) So I thought I'd just take a step forward and give you guys the introduction already instead of a damn song.**_

_**Sorry ): That's horrible considering I don't have the time or patience to sit right now and give you the chapter you deserve.**_

* * *

_**Flash Forward: Three Days**_

_**"Tell me something... If you could stay silent for one day; what day would that be?"** _

Blu recited, mentally, from his childhood.

That one phrase that he told his children too.

However he did not take heed to the formal warning to the actuality of the problem from this seemingly innocent question. This question has led to Blu now being angry; about a hour of flying away from the Aviary as fast as he could. Tears sprang to his eyes and blinded him as he flew at high speed away from the place before he breaks down and cries in anger in front of everybody who came to the party; and can't even explain his actions because he cant.

He just can't

And he can do nothing about it. Zip. None, Nada. Negitive. NOTHING!

Blu sighed and whipped out his notebook, despreate to make his voice and fustrations heard he scribbled ruthlessly onto the printed layout of the spiral.

**_Blu's Journal_**

_As soon as you read this; I'm already gone. Either dead or exiled._

_Blu, or I, was asked that question from his siblings for years and years to come. Yet he could never give them a straight answer for he wasn't the kind of guy to be silence, but was then one who knew when to keep his beak shut in case of a fallout. It's just a picked up experience form his twenty one years of living; Something that has to come into play every once in a while. Almost like a need, a quench to say your word regardless of the consequences._

_I am not Blu anymore; I don't respond to Blu. Or Tyler. Or anything._

_If you haven't guessed since my lack of response it's because I'm now a mute; can't say anything to anybody. Physically impossible to make my statement because my vocals don't work. Their broken, forever to stay silent because of a accident that my own children has lain apon me. I'm telling you too much now so let's stray back to the main question shall we? Where was I... Right. Telling who ever is reading this more about my point of view on the question I was asked as a mere chick._

_To stay silent for a day means that he can't say a word at all; especially non at any occasions so what does that do to someone like Blu; whose cynical demeanor get's him in more trouble than he's worth? What does it do for someone who loves to speak out against what he thinks isn't write? What does this whole example and explanation above this passage have anything to do with Blu being able to communicate? How does it affect him? How does it affect me?_

_Why does it even matter? Why does it matter on the father of a wonderful, growing family? What does it matter that a perfectly friendly male like Blu should be muted for one day? For one day that he can't speak for any reason what soever?_

_For what day that would be; if anything he would chose a rainy day. Something so horrendous of a day that he didn't want to talk to it about; not even to Nico or Pedro at the club. Something so bad he could stay quiet about his rather crappy day. Something like that; but nothing close to what we're about to learn. Something so horrible that would leave everyone who learns about being a involuntary mute much more difficult than it actually is!_

_Why am I, Tyler Blu Gunderson, talking about this horrible predicament?_

_Because it happen so lately; so close to a wonderful day of uniting._

_The Anniversary. My anniversary of me and Jewel meeting; the same day she nearly snapped my neck. The same day I sang that stupid song, the same day she fought me. The same day I fell in love with her_

_It was a horrible day for me; so horrible I can't even comprehend what chaos I made. Something I couldn't fix since it was impossible to do; to do something so simple but make it impossible for me to do that one simple task, just to say those powerful three letter words that would make my life so much easier if I couldn't have gotten myself in this situation._

_I'm in a situation so bad it hurts. I've been left with nothing, no one except me and my thoughts in this journal I'm writing in._

_You must be thinking; "Blu! How does being a mute affect your relationship with Jewel?"_

_If you've been paying any attention, whever is readign this; I was able to talk before. Yeah._

_Three days from now to be in fact._

_And I'm going to tell you all about it._


End file.
